It’s the best time of year, the time for giving! But what if you
don’t know what to get? Have a cyclist on your holiday shopping
list that has you stumped? Socks are always fun(especially our designed Sock Guy Performance Crew socks –>), but why not guarantee they’ll love your gift by getting them one of this season’s hottest items? Here are some of our favorite gifts for the cyclist in your life.

XLab Torpedo Triathlon Starter Kit ($89.99 at Las Vegas Cyclery):

Features and Benefits:
-Includes the key items for training.
– Includes essentials you need for short triathlons.
– Supplies your hydration, nutrition & repair storage needs along with inflation accessories.

Features:
The Specialized Women’s Spirita RBX Shoes boast stiff, injection-molded composite soles for excellent pedaling efficiency and comfort on the bike, and non-slip touring treads for off-the-bike adventures. These fine shoes are also built specifically for women with Specialized’s Body Geometry footbeds, supple, breathable uppers that fit like a glove and 3 Velcro closures for fine-tuning the fit and feel to perfection.

For The Kids

Features:
The MGP VX4 Pro Scooter features the signature scolloped downtube only seen on MGP Scooters. The entire headtube is 3D forged out of one piece of 6061 aircraft grade aluminum. This year the Pro has a FSA TH-882 headset and HIC threadless steel fork.

For gifts under $50, check out the Specialized Chamonix Helmet, great for road, mountain and commuter riding.

Still Can’t Decide?

You can’t go wrong with a Las Vegas Cyclery Gift Card! Choose a card design and any dollar amount and and let them go crazy! Gift Certificates are also available for Escape Adventures for mountain biking, road cycling, hiking and multi-sport adventure touring throughout the Southwest. See http://www.escapeadventure.com for details, or call 1-800-596-2953.

Also, be sure to check out our Secret Santa! This year Las Vegas Cyclery has mystery boxes priced at $10 and $25. Each box is worth more than the dollar amount shown, but what’s inside is a mystery! Boxes include fun gifts such as CamelBaks, tune-ups, belt buckles, cycling socks and more!

Escape Adventures guides have gained a reputation in the adventure touring circuit for preparing some amazing food for their guests, sans traditional kitchen. Breakfast, lunch and dinner include freshly prepared foods, including fresh organic fruits, vegetables and meats. Some guest favorites and guide specialties include blueberry pancakes for breakfast, veggie-feta wraps and pasta for lunch, and bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms and deep dish pizza for dinner. As for dessert, how about pineapple upside down cake and chocolate fondue? Sounds like a fine dining menu, but Escape Adventures guides know how to bring the 5 star restaurant to the trails.

Tips For Great Camp Side Cooking:

Prepare! Seems obvious, but so many of us adventure seekers just don’t do it. You will make your travels so much easier and much more enjoyable by simply preparing a menu for each day(don’t forget your snacks), making a shopping list for said menu, deciding what kind of pots, pans and utensils each meal will need and gathering it all up. This may take a bit of time on the front end the first time, but you can use the same list over and over moving forward.

Keep it separate! If you’re anything like I was in my 20s, I threw everything…I mean EVERYTHING, into one cooler and headed out. By the end of my second day camping I had soggy wrappers, cross contaminated vegetables from leaking meat packages and nasty, not-so-clear ice. An easy way to avoid this? Invest in a couple bins and separate coolers. Keep your fruits and veggies in one bin, dry foods in another, drinks in a drink bin, meats in their own cooler, spare ice in its own cooler…you get the point. If you really get into it, you may even want to go as far as having breakfast, lunch and dinner broken down as well.

Try a Dutch oven! Seriously, you can make practically anything in a Dutch oven that you could make in your home kitchen oven. A Dutch oven allows you to prepare gourmet meals out in the open… meals like grilled fajitas, enchilada pie, and pizza. My personal favorite, cinnamon rolls. Real, fresh, hot, sticky, delicious cinnamon rolls in the morning overlooking the Grand Canyon? Can’t beat it. And deciding what to make is easy. There are many, many cookbooks and blogs all over the place with great Dutch oven recipes. For example, check out 35 Incredibly Easy Dutch Oven Recipes For Camping.

Another way to enjoy our camp side favorites is to join Escape Adventures on a tour and experience our guides cooking for yourself! Check out http://www.escapeadventures.com to find a mountain biking, road cycling, hiking or multi-sport tour that fits you!

We understand that your bike is your baby, that you can’t possibly think of riding anything else on your biking tour, whatever the cost! But cost isn’t the only thing to take into consideration … imagine what can happen to your beloved bike en route to its destination! Here are a few stories that might make you consider keeping your bike safe and sound at home.

1. Nervous about flying my bike, I called the airlines the night before and asked their customer service about policies regarding bicycles. She informed me that if I pack it in a box within the allotted measurements, and as long as it was under a certain weight, that it will be OK. So I paid to have my bike packed according to the guidelines and even double checked the weight at the weighing scale when we got to the airport…it all looked good to go. When I reached the check-in counter, the lady asked me to open the box! She then proceeded to tell me that she would need to charge me $150.00 for overweight and bulk size. WHAT???!!! I explained to her that I had called ahead of time and specifically had my bike packed and weighed according to the guidelines THEY gave me, but she wouldn’t listen. I ended up having to not only open my packed bike and cut down the box(that I paid to have packed that way), but I also opened my other luggage to arrange stuff for the next hour to make sure every thing was within their weight requirements. What a pain!

2. Bikes on a plane? Easier said than done. I recently returned from a tour of the Balkans. The plan was to land at Sarajevo, cycle to Split in Croatia, ride up the coast and across to Ljubljana to fly home. But that isn’t exactly what happened, because the airline mislaid my bike. After a suspiciously long wait at Sarajevo airport for the cardboard box I’d carefully packed it in days earlier, I was told it was still in London. Two frustrating days later, Germanwings finally delivered a now very tatty box containing a travel-weary bike. The frame was dented and scratched, the rack bent, the gear lever minus its plastic end and my bell was broken. And because of the delay I had to take two trains to catch up, so missed a lot of my planned riding.Fear not, the trip was salvaged and I enjoyed lots of sun, sea and sightseeing, but it was slightly tarnished. Annoyingly, this also happened the last time I flew with a bike – although that time the damage was limited to two chainrings and a set of handlebars.

3. My pedal spanner and multi-tool were deemed weapons at the airport recently, despite having no particularly sharp parts. I argued that my laptop would probably be more dangerous if I decided to hit someone with the corner of it, but no, because they were metal and ‘tool-like’, I had to throw them away :-( Very frustrating. I had flown with my multi-tool before and it got through with no problem, but apparently this time they felt it was a security risk. Strangely enough, frying pans were no problem!

4. The worst instance for me was on Air France. My bike-in-a-box actually went missing for a couple of days. Then when it showed up, it looked like it had been stomped on by elephants. The cardboard was ripped open down one side and the rear wheel was bent completely out of shape.

5. I just came back from a road bike trip in Colorado. Here is a brief summary of the costs incurred to bring my bike w/ me:
Flight 1: – I was in a rush and had to ask my bike shop to break it down and box it: $15 for the box and wrapping stuff + $35 for the service
I had to take a cab straight from the bike shop to the airport instead of the subway: $50 vs $2
Flew with Jetblue: $50 fee because the box was slightly above 50lbs (even though it was below the 62″ requirement)
Lesson learned, on the return I shipped my bike with professionals. I used the box the bike shop gave me + bought some wrapping paper + use the plastic covers from the 1st flight. I shipped it from Vail in Colorado to Manhattan. Cost: $40. The bike arrived without a dent or scratch in the box 4 days later. No hassle, no hidden fees.

Imagine arriving to your Escape Adventures vacation destination with your bike waiting and ready for you. No pesky customs agents,TSA or airline reps to hassle with, no hidden airline fees, no bulky bike box to cram into the back of a taxi or rental car… Escape Adventures can take these issues out of the equation by renting you a quality bike for your next tour.

• Add extra layers of cardboard to the corners of your box and use plenty of Duct tape to hold it tight.
• Take extra tape in your hand luggage – customs may need to look inside the box, and aren’t required to help you seal it up again.
• Take off pedals, wheel skewers and anything else pointy that may puncture the box.
• Use lots of padding – foam pipe cladding from a DIY shop is perfect for protecting your frame and very cheap.
• Change to the biggest rings at the front and back – this will take up as much slack as possible in the chain and tuck the derailleur in.
• Once you’ve removed the wheels, protect the frame by using the plastic clips that come attached to forks on new bikes – if you don’t still have yours ask for some at the local bike shop
• Weigh your bike – if you’re over the allowance weight you may be stung with a large surcharge. Bathroom scales are perfect for this – but make your life easier by boxing it up first, as it’s not easy to balance a bike on one when it’s built up.
• Mark your seatpost with a bit of tape – this will help avoid any fitting issues at the other end.
• Pop any small, loose items like pedals or skewers in a small sandwich bag and selotape it to the inside of the box. If there’s a small hole then you could lose them.
• When booking your flight look carefully at bike surcharges, which vary hugely.
• Over-sized luggage can take a long time to check in, so arrive early or you may find your box has not made it on to your flight, even if you have…
• Forget flying with your bike altogether and rent a bike from Escape Adventures or get the pros, like Bike Flights, to help you transport your bike to your destination.

Las Vegas Cyclery is excited to announce the newest member of therunning center’s shoe family… Altra!

For months, Las Vegas Cyclery and Running Center has been receiving calls asking “Any chance you carry Altras?”. Yesterday, LVC was finally able to answer “YES!” as Altra made its move into the Las Vegas market. Currently one of the only, and certainly one of the first stores in Las Vegas to pick up the Altra line, this highly anticipated addition had people knocking at the doors to grab their pair.

With Zero Drop technology, Altras help the foot hit with a softer, more natural landing, allowing for less heel strike with each step, which in turn reduces joint impact. “Altra running shoes with Zero Drop technology are the most innovative, comfortable barefoot/minimalist running shoes available today. Zero Drop™ footwear offers runners the world’s first fully cushioned, foot-shaped, training shoe without an elevated heel. This unique platform allows for a more natural foot strike and a more efficient, comfortable ride.” – http://www.altrazerodrop.com/

The running center at Las Vegas Cyclery, headed by Coach Sylvia Mosqueda, has been rapidly gaining credentials in the Las Vegas running circuit. To expand on its reputation as a premier store for runners, Las Vegas Cyclery brought in Altra shoes to enhance what the running center has to offer. Runners not only have a great selection of the Altra line to choose from, but they are also able to hone in on the perfect shoe for their foot, as Coach Mosqueda provides foot analysis’ and fittings to LVC customers.

As for me, I had to immediately pick up my personal favorite, The Intuition 1.5, which earned Editor’s Pick for Most Innovative in Competitor Magazine. I’m excited to head out and pound some pavement in these guys, my feedback soon to come!

Ask any kid participating in the 7th Annual Diamond Kid Triathlon on Saturday “what made you want to come out and compete like this in the Vegas summer heat?”(although to be fair, weather conditions were actually perfect!) and I guarantee their answer will include “because it’s just fun!”. And it was!

It was my first time observing a kid-sized running/cycling/swimming competition like this, and honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. Sure, you have your weekly soccer games and softball practices, but a triathlon for children is definitely in its own category. The personal drive and stamina one has to have in order to push the body to compete outside of a team setting, in my opinion, takes the meaning of willpower to a different level. Challenging oneself in this manner can be difficult as an adult, so it was definitely incredible to see the Diamond Kids putting forth so much effort with the heart and spirit you would expect from a full grown pro-athlete!

Aside from the individual determination displayed by the athletes, the show of sportsmanship was admirable. As each child finished their portion of the race they would join the parents in cheering on and celebrating the other kid-athletes as they pushed through up-hills and raced across finish lines. Then you had the parents themselves, who’s pride was palpable as they hurried from sideline to sideline to clang cowbells and shout encouragements to the participants.

All in all, the Diamond Kid Triathlon should make any member of the running, cycling and/or swimming community in Las Vegas feel proud and perhaps,even, inspired to try a tri!

T.J. Lavin is a legend in the BMX world of cycling. He’s also a local here in Las Vegas. I remember watching the Dew Tour Championship back in 2010. I made sure to watch T.J.’s run. I watched that day in horror as did thousands of fans when T.J. crashed. I’ve seen enough catastrophic crashes in my day to know that T.J. was seriously injured. I had a knot in my stomach and watched in disbelief as they carried him off on a stretcher. It has been a long road to recovery for him. He’s a great inspiration and wanted to share this video of his recovery with you all.

I hope some of you local folks will be able to stop by and say hi to him at our Grand Opening this weekend.